The actor's words come as he portrays a former communist radical in a new film

One of Hollywood's most beautiful people just descended on a city some describe as "Hollywood for ugly people" to say that his view of politics is...well, it ain't pretty.

Robert Redford, while attending a DC event to unveil the documentary "All the President's Men Revisited," said that he sees the political landscape as having "gotten darker." This follows a 2011 comment by the actor that his perspective on politics was "so dim it's almost black."

While Redford didn't elaborate on just what he meant by his words, his left-leaning political views are well-known. Redford's newest film, "The Company You Keep," sees the 76-year-old actor playing a former communist radical and member of the Weather Underground hoping to turn over a new, less red leaf.

"I was emotionally sympathetic with that cause at that time because that was my time," the actor told the Toronto star, speaking to why he chose the role. "I have always had trouble with authority, which when I was younger got me into a lot of trouble."

Robert Redford is an idiot to cling to far leftwing fascist views in light of the fact he has prospered under freedom and capitalism. If he loves socialism/communism so much, he should walk his talk and move to Cuba or North Korea.

@NormalFlora um, no, Fascism is a subset of socialism. Mussolini was a socialist pundit before he invented Fascism, and "Nazi" is short for "National Socialism." It is defined as the State controlling everything, which fits within the general definition of socialism as "an economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy."

The unifying factor in the Tea Party is reducing government spending. There are not really "members," the way there are are "Democrats" and "Republicans," but if there were, some of them might be Democrats or Fascists or whatever, but that is irrelevant.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespreaddomestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

@Ryuo 8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

@NormalFlora I agree with all that, but how is that different than Communism? If you say #8,(the State suborning religion,) I'd respond that Dialectical Materialism is actually a religion, and that religious people often think of Secular Humanism as a religion.

Funny thing about Redford saying, "I have always had trouble with authority" is that he has been part of the Authority since at least the 1980s. Maybe he would have noticed if they had made Son of All the President's Men or Four Days of the Condor.

@Ryuo "Three Days of the Condor". May I also recommend "Executive Action" about the Kennedy Assassination and "The Parallax View" about an agency that specializes in finding "patsies" to take the fall for political assassinations. Good stuff. Old more relevant than ever.

@earl Obama is a self centered narcissist.......but, then again, so was Bush 2, Billy Clinton, Bush 1........etcHMMM.....seems to hold the job of POTUS, you are required to be a self centered narcissist with lips just made for azz kissing.....I think I'll keep my day job!

My own view on Politics has definitely gotten darker. Maybe it has always been the same in politics and I was just peacefully naive but now I see the money, special interests, media spin and really out right corruption were congressmen are literally packing their freezers full with bribe money and I have to say it has made me quite cynical about democracy in this country.

who f@*!king cares ? what is this supposed to be a plug for his latest shitty movie? he wanted to name it after Bill Ayers ,Obama's terrorist friend... but in the movie the terrorist repents... so it wouldn't have worked out...

... I predict this movie will be a bomb.. 1 because it's Robert Redford movie.. and 2 because it's about terrorists who used bombs.... if this jerk off Robert Redford had any brains at all he would not release this movie right now... but like all the other Hollywood limousine liberals... he doesn't give a shit how people might be adversely affected by this movie , it's all about him and his " work of art"

...and to think that crazy Leftist creep used to be one of my favorite actors. Yuk!..The left will continue to darken things until we are all blind, and then we can't see the real damage they're doing. Pathetic imbeciles!

This may surprise many, but I like Robert Redford.As a Utahn who has spent many years in Park City and SLC, Redford is a favorite son. Lifelong Utahn, a down-to-earth guy who created Sundance (film festival, resort, restaurant, et al) and really boosted Utah.Yes, he's very liberal. Whatever. He is an educated liberal, very smart. Not just another brainless Sean Penn.To the political darkness question, the politics of earlier centuries were far more incendiary and provocative, even dangerous.We get heated and passionate, and while the politics of today carry more potential for great change, they are not as mean spirited as the politics of yesteryear.

Why is Redford's Opinion even being discussed? He is not relevant to anything dealing with this disaster, he is only a face we have seen in movies portraying a fake person and trying to sell box office tickets. Get Hollywood out of politics